Volume 17 No. 4

As I write this message, Australia is in its sixth month of responding to the threat of the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus. This has been an extensive test of our ability to respond to a nationwide threat from an infective agent. The pandemic has evolved in a way that has been different to that predicted. This has… Read more »

This edition of JMVH focuses on training within the Defence environment. Contributions are international and of international standard. The edition begins with an overall paper by Leggat, Aitken and Seidl regarding the context of postgraduate education for health professionals in the Defence environment. This places the background for the more specific papers regarding important though more narrow aspects of Defence Health… Read more »

Dermatology Expert Group. *Version 3. xxiii+335pp, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9804764-3-9. Melbourne, Therapeutic Guidelines Limited, AUD39.00, 2009. Apart from textbooks, including one recently received in this journal,1 there have been few handbooks published specifically on guidelines related to Dermatology. This third Version of Therapeutic Guidelines: Dermatology, part of a collection of 14 in the series of the… Read more »

Nikki Blackwell, Carole Foot and Christopher Thomas* *1st edn, 340 p, paperback with illustrations, ISBN 978-0-7295-3802-2 Sydney, Churchill Livingstone (an Imprint of Elsevier), RRP $83.95, 2006 Military practitioners have a long association with the world of critical care and anaesthesia. Military practice at times calls upon critical management skills, and there is a considerable proportion… Read more »

The contemporary US Physician Assistant (PA) profession arose in the United States of America (US) from a critical need to augment and redistribute the medical workforce in the turbulent mid-1960s. They were then the latest iteration of a model of “delegated practice” which had many historical predecessors dating as far back as the Feldshers in… Read more »

Introduction Explosions cause more military casualties (65.5%1), than any other combat mechanism of injury 1-9, 14, 16, 18. Injury patterns have evolved as a direct result of developments in personal protective equipment and insurgent tactics techniques and procedures (TTPs) 8, 15, 17, 18. The purpose of this paper is to outline emerging blast mechanisms of… Read more »

Introduction For the newly serving Medical Officer in the ADF (ADF MO), professional progression opportunities are both in rank and in competency level (CL). The requirements for promotion in rank and the means of achieving the requirements are fairly well defined, assessed regularly and supported by the Military infrastructure as the time honoured way of… Read more »

Introduction Supraglottic airway management devices comprise a family of medical devices that facilitate oxygenation and ventilation without endotracheal intubation [1]. “Supraglottic airway” is a generic description for devices that facilitate ventilation and oxygenation with devices that do not penetrate the vocal cords. Classification of these devices can be constructed based on the laryngeal sealing mechanism… Read more »

Introduction Airway management is practiced by anaesthesiologists, emergency physicians, critical care experts, and less frequently by specialists in other disciplines. Pre hospital personnel and military medics are also called upon to provide airway support for acutely ill and injured patients. Intubation success rates are decreased in the pre hospital setting, and when a difficult airway… Read more »

n 2007-2008, Defence Health Service (DHS) personnel and the growing band of contracted health providers cared for 53,140 permanent Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and 24,885 reserve ADF members1, not including the initial care of families accompanying members deployed abroad and other eligible civilians. Health providers in the Defence setting include medical assistants with various… Read more »